Open bottom meat container

ABSTRACT

A meat container is provided formed of molded pulp which has a plurality of ribs of V-shaped cross section extending across the bottom defining a plurality of open bottom windows.

United States Patent Bixler 1 1 Oct. 17, 1972 [S4] OPEN BOTTOM MEAT CONTAINER 3,056,232 10/1962 Chaplin ..229/2.5 UX 72 Inventor: Kenneth l H t 3,217,962 11/1965 Weiss ..229/2.5 1 mg 3,346,400 10/1967 Roesner ..229/2.s x 3,357,625 12/1967 Malmgren ..229/2.5 Asslgneer Diamond International C p 2,918,379 12/1959 Lurie ..99/ 174 New York, 3,185,371 5/1965 Reifers ..229/2.5

22 F'] d: I 1 l e July 1970 Primary Examiner-Donald F. Norton [21] App]. No.: 53,545 Attorney-Karl W. Flocks [521 U.S. c1. ..229/2.5, 99/174, 206/4533 [57] ABSTRACT [51 Int. Cl. ..B65d l/34 A meat container is provided formed of molded pulp [58] Field of Search ..229/2.5; 206/4533; 99/ 174; which has a plurality of ribs of V-shaped cross section 150/48 extending across the bottom defining a plurality of open bottom windows. [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 6 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures 3,480,178 11/1969 Morgan ..229/2.5 X

'PATENTEBHBI 17 1972 SHEET 1 OF 2 FIG. 1

OPEN BOTTOM MEAT CONTAINER The present invention relates to an open bottom food container and, more particularly, to a food container for use for the packaging of meat, poultry and fish in conjunction with a plastic overwrap film and where the bottom wall is replaced by a plurality of open windows.

Molded wood pulp food trays have served the food packaging industry well for many years for the packaging of meat, fish and poultry. Such trays have the advantages, besides low price and low cost to the consumer, of being clean, sturdy and safe, of being biodegradable so as to minimize the solids pollution problem, and of being capable of controlling the liquid and juices which exude from meat, fish and poultry. Nevertheless, in spite of the many advantages of such molded wood pulp trays, clear plastic trays are now provided which claim to offer the consumer product visibility; yet these clear plastic trays offer the defects of reduced strength, increased cost and fabrication of non-biodegradable material, of collecting liquid exudants from the meat, fish and poultry packaged in puddles, thereby not only causing discoloration of the product packaged therein, but also serving to opacify the package itself, thereby inhibiting the visibility such trays were intended to offer the consumer.

It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to overcome the defects of the prior art.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a tray of molded pulp for the packaging of meat, fish and poultry which, in spite of being made of opaque material, provides a high degree of visibility of the packaged product.

It is another object of the present invention to provide for the clean, safe and effective packaging of meats, fish and poultry.

These and other objects and the nature and advantages of the instant invention will be more apparent from the following description of certain exemplary embodiments of the invention, taken in conjunction with the drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation, partly broken away of a meat packaging tray in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view looking into the interior of the tray of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a bottom view, looking up, of the tray of FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a front elevation, partly broken away, showing a second embodiment of a meat packaging tray in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view looking down into the interior of the tray of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is a bottom view, looking up, of the tray of FIGS. 4 and 5.

A food packaging tray 10 is shown in FIGS. 1-3 for the packaging of meat, fish or poultry in association with an overwrap film of plastic or heat-sealable cellophane. The food tray 10 is provided, as is conventional, with four upwardly and outwardly inclined sidewalls 12, 14, 16 and 18, each being joined to adjacent walls by a rounded portion 20. Each sidewall and the intermediate rounded portions are provided at their terminal portion by a downwardly and outwardly inclined bead or flange 22.

Instead of having a flat bottom wall as is conventional, the tray 10 is provided with a plurality of ribs 24 extending between the bottom of the wall portions 14 and 18, and, at right angles thereto, a plurality of ribs 26 extending between sidewalls 12 and 16. As thus seen in FIGS. 1 and 3, these ribs form in cross-section an inverted V-shape, and terminate at their upper portions, forming the bottom of the tray, in the apex of the V. At each sidewall, the bottom 25 of the V-shaped ribs 24 and 26 terminate adjacent the bottom 21 of the sidewalls. Accordingly, it will be seen that the sidewalls terminate in a plane which also passes through the bottom of the inverted Vs as best shown in FIG. 1, in that the actual bottom of the tray upon which the meat, fish or poultry rests corresponds to a height above the bottom termination plane of the sidewalls.

Because the meat, fish or poultry rests on the apex of the inverted V-shaped ribs 24 and 26, it will be seen that the support provided by the bottom of the tray is in the form of a plurality of line contacts which occupy a minimum contact area. When the meat, fish or poultry is packaged within the tray 10 and the contents and tray 10 are overwrapped with plastic film or cellophane which is heat-sealed, it will be understood that the top of the package is free for inspection of the food packaged which is normal. However, when the tray is inverted, approximately -95 percent of the total packaged contents will also be visible through the separate windows between criss-crossing ribs 24 and 26 and the top of the tray. The inspection of the bottom of the food is improved by tiping the package and sighting through the windows in a direction parallel to the walls of the rib.

The key features of the invention are provided by forming the cross ribs 24 and 26 of an inverted V- shaped cross-section. The V-shape not only provides maximum strength preventing inward collapse of the sidewall upon tight overwrapping of the package, but the inverted V-shape permits maximum visibility, as pointed out above, through the open window and also provides the added advantage of denesting to improve ease of separatability of adjacent trays subsequent to shipping and prior to filling and packaging. When the tray isformed of wood pulp as is preferred, it is also capable of controlling exuded liquids preventing such liquids from puddling to impair visibility and other-wise affect the keeping qualities of the tray contents.

A second embodiment tray is shown in FIGS. 4-6. As with the tray of FIGS. 103, the tray 100 is provided with four sidewalls 120, 140, and 180, a peripheral flange 220 and bottom ribs 240 and 260, having inverted V-shaped cross-sections, which intersect at right angles to form rectangular windows. Tray 100 differs from tray 10, however, in that the bottom of the sidewalls 120, etc., terminate at the top, rather than the bottom, of the inverted V-shaped ribs 240 and 260. Thus, as seen in FIG. 4, the sidewall terminates at its bottom edge 181 in a plane passing through the apex of the inverted V-shaped ribs 240 and 260. Similarly, it will be seen that the bottom edge 141 of the sidewall 140 and the bottom edge 121 of the sidewall 120 terminate in the same plane. In order to provide support for the ribs 240 and 260, the sidewalls are provided with downwardly depending portions 122, 142, 162 and 182.

As in instances such as egg packaging, where both solid top and visible top designs have been made available to fill particular consumer wants, the food tray of the present invention offers visibility to those consumers who desire it, while maintaining many of the advantages of the solid molded pulp food packages. By having such a visible tray available, the consumer has the option of using the solid bottom or visible bottom tray that will best serve his wants in properly packaging the food product it will contain.

The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fully reveal the general nature of the invention that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily modify such specific embodiments and/or adapt them for various applications without departing from the generic concept, and, therefore, such adaptations and modifications should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of disclosed embodiments. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation.

What is claimed is:

1. In a molded tray for the packaging of meat, fish or poultry in conjunction with a transparent overwrap film heat-sealed thereabout, said tray comprising at least one upwardly and outwardly inclined substantially imperforate sidewall defining the peripheral extent of said tray, the improvement comprising bottom wall means for providing approximately -95 percent visibility of the package material and simultaneously supporting the meat, fish or poultry, said bottom wall means comprising a plurality of substantially opaque ribs having an inverted V-shaped cross-section, said ribs extending across said tray in at least two directions at angles and intersecting to define therebetween wholly open areas comprising a plurality of open windows.

2. A molded tray in accordance with claim 1 wherein said tray is rectangular and has four said substantially imperforate sidewalls.

3. A molded tray in accordance with claim 2 wherein said tray is square and wherein said ribs extending at right angles provide square windows.

4. A molded tray in accordance with claim 2 wherein said sidewalls terminate at the outer bottom of said tray in the plane of the bottom of said inverted V-shaped ribs.

5. A molded tray in accordance with claim 2 wherein said sidewalls terminate at the inner bottom of said tray in the plane of the top of said inverted V-shaped ribs.

6. A molded tray in accordance with claim 1 formed of wood pulp. 

1. In a molded tray for the packaging of meat, fish or poultry in conjunction with a transparent overwrap film heat-sealed thereabout, said tray comprising at least one upwardly and outwardly inclined substantially imperforate sidewall defining the peripheral extent of said tray, the improvement comprising bottom wall means for providing approximately 90-95 percent visibility of the package material and simultaneously supporting the meat, fish or poultry, said bottom wall means comprising a plurality of substantially opaque ribs having an inverted V-shaped cross-section, said ribs extending across said tray in at least two directions at angles and intersecting to define therebetween wholly open areas comprising a plurality of open windows.
 2. A molded tray in accordance with claim 1 wherein said tray is rectangular and has four said substantially imperforate sidewalls.
 3. A molded tray in accordance with claim 2 wherein said tray is square and wherein said ribs extending at right angles provide square windows.
 4. A molded tray in accordance with claim 2 wherein said sidewalls terminate at the outer bottom of said tray in the plane of the bottom of said inverted V-shaped ribs.
 5. A molded tray in accordance with claim 2 wherein said sidewalls terminate at the inner bottom of said tray in the plane of the top of said inverted V-shaped ribs.
 6. A molded tray in accordance with claim 1 formed of wood pulp. 